High End System Building. How important is the matching, cabling and room? Thoughts ?

The "dealer" would rarely tell you that...he may be all about "matching" expensive crap with other expensive crap and constantly capitalizing on the poor dude’s constant disgruntlement.

@deep_333 i have a hard time believing this.  I’m sure there are unscrupulous dealers out there but anyone reputable who is trying to build a business should be considering the clients room and anything else the client is looking for.  Happy clients mean repeat business and all.  I’ve worked for an unscrupulous boss before and it made it hard to make sales (was in the arborist trade for a while).  Maybe I’m projecting how I would approach sales, although, I hope most dealers have more probity.

I would  have expressed  that in a more cautious way myself even if i agree with the post ...

Most dealers are like audiophiles here with 40 amplifiers behind them and 50 dac and as much speakers experience , they know the gear , but they dont know much about the importance of acoustics ( i dont spoke about a few panels here ) and about electrical noise floor controls or mechanical vibration/resonance problems ... r : tThey they advise ANYWAY the customers as the customers ask for : the  gear attention is  focussed on the gear piece it is not focussed  on  the way to embed acoustically , mechanically and electrically anything, because  price tag and the piece  matter no more here ...Anything at any price must b3e well embedded to work optimally ...And the diffrence is always huge for any piece at any price ...This dont means that my low price active speakers even modified will rival Revel Salon well embedded ...

As said mike lavigne in his own way in another priceless post , HIGh-END is more a state of the creative mind than a price tags race ....

jastralfu

79 posts

12-31-2023 at 03:02pm

The "dealer" would rarely tell you that...he may be all about "matching" expensive crap with other expensive crap and constantly capitalizing on the poor dude’s constant disgruntlement.

@deep_333 i have a hard time believing this. I’m sure there are unscrupulous dealers out there but anyone reputable who is trying to build a business should be considering the clients room and anything else the client is looking for. Happy clients mean repeat business and all. I’ve worked for an unscrupulous boss before and it made it hard to make sales (was in the arborist trade for a while). Maybe I’m projecting how I would approach sales, although, I hope most dealers have more probity

I and several fellow audiophiles with good listening skills and systems have spent good money on treating our rooms with all manner of acoustic treatments. In two specific cases folks paid big money for a room acoustics company to come in and professionally treat the rooms. In the end, the rooms sounded better with all the “stuff “ taken out. I experienced the same thing about 13 years ago.

Few absolutes in audio and this includes “treating” a space with all manner of absorption and diffusion. My current room has a few diffusion panels strategically placed and sounds good so I am all for experimenting with treatments. However, I do not believe they are a must for every room and situation. Just not the case based on my experience.

Experimenting and working hard on speaker placement and listening position is something I am willing to say is absolutely needed.

Most dealers are like audiophiles here with 40 amplifiers behind them and 50 dac and as much speakers experience , they know the gear , but they dont know much about the importance of acoustics ( i dont spoke about a few panels here ) and about electrical noise floor controls or mechanical vibration/resonance problems

@mahgister that's interesting to hear.  I've loved music for as long as I can remember but haven't built a decent system, at least decent for me 😀, until the last few years.  There is so much I have learned in that time, however, it baffles me that dealers would not be keenly aware of room acoustics, etc.

@grannyring I believe it's easy enough to over treat a room as much as under treat one for sure.

I like my 12 gauge radio shack cables to be flexible so they drape from ceiling to the Maggies hung from it.  I think I have a few soldered splices in one of them because I didn't have a long enough length.  So they match the small room.  

I mean, once one starts hanging speakers from ceilings at various angles all bets are off.  There are so many reflections that it's great.  Like a giant pair of headphones but with ambience and depth.  

I'm not on the right thread am I.